MP speaks out over "unjust" arrest warrant after Ashya King parents held without evidence of wrongdoing

AN MP from the Bristol area has raised concerns over the “unjust” use of European arrest warrants after one was used to detain the parents of five-year-old brain tumour patient Ashya King.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who represents North East Somerset, said the “excessive” treatment of Ashya’s parents, who were arrested in Spain after taking him from a UK hospital against doctors’ advice, raised questions about whether people in this country could be “unjustifiably” arrested at the request of other European police forces.

The Tory MP raised the issue in the House of Commons, during the first session of Prime Minister’s Questions since the summer, today. He said police had created an injustice by having Ashya's parents Brett and Naghmeh held despite there being no evidence of them committing a crime.

But David Cameron insisted the powers were necessary to help Britain and its European neighbours catch terrorists.

Mr Rees-Mogg asked the Prime Minister: “If even the respected Hampshire police can use the European arrest warrant to create an injustice, can you have any confidence that other member states with less well developed legal systems will not use the arrest warrant for worse purposes?”

Mr Cameron replied: “I respect your arguments, but the police have to make judgments and, as I have just said, they do not always get those judgments right.

“Those of us in this House have to think about a potential situation in which a terrorist has attacked our country and is on the run through Europe to other countries, and about how quickly we want to be able to get that person back in front of our courts to face British justice.

“That is not an imaginary set of circumstances; it is exactly what happened in 2005 after the dreadful London bombings, so we need to think about it.

“I am all for making sure that powers flow from Brussels to London, and they have done in the case of justice and home affairs, where we have repatriated more than 100 measures.

“However, I also want to be a Prime Minister who can look the British people in the eye and say, “We will keep you safe from serious crime and terrorism, and we will get people back in front of British courts as soon as possible.”

Speaking to the Bristol Post after his exchange with the Prime Minister, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “What really struck me is that the Assistant Chief Constable of Hampshire Police admitted, in not so many words, that there was no evidence of a crime and that they only used the claim of negligence to talk to the family, but that got the parents locked up.

“A warrant that can be used in such a way, without any shred of evidence of wrongdoing, is simply not justice. And my worry is that, while we generally have a high standard when it comes to upholding the law, many other nations do not and heaven forbid such a method is used to unjustifiably arrest someone in this country.”

On the plight of the King family, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Surely parents have the primary responsibility for their children and the heavy-handedness of the authorities in this situation seemed to me to be excessive.

“And if you can’t even disagree with your doctor now without the intervention of the law that, too, seems to me to be wrong.”

The UK currently has a block opt-out from EU agreements on justice and home affairs that predated the Lisbon Treaty of 2009. However, the Parliament will have to decide by December 1 whether or not to opt back into the EAW.

Its interesting Reese-Mogg says there was not a shred of evidence e of wrong doing, there was every indication of wrong doing, it was a completely rational response to the parents behaviour and the available information. Its amazing that once he realised they were a middle classes family wanting to pay for private treatment suddenly they are the victims, but they are not the victims and he needs to base his interpretation of events on the facts not on personal preferences and preconceptions.

The reason the European arrest warrant was issued was the fact that the Spanish police understandably would have taken no action to find the child in what was a British domestic incident. Had the police here not acted - and the court has to be satisfied before it will issue a warrant - and some harm befallen the child no doubt Rees Mogg would be leading the criticism of the Hampshire Police for failing to take all steps to ensure the safety of the child. It's easy in hindsight to blame the police now the full circumstances are apparent but they were acting in good faith on medical advice. Had they ignored that and things went wrong the knives would be out for them. The parents must accept some responsibility for removing their child in the way that they did.